It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.

Note to Our Readers:We strive to keep active links in our newsletter. However, due to circumstances beyond our control, occasionally links to stories may become broken. If you find a link to a story is not functioning, please cut and paste the headline into your browser search bar. In most cases you should be able to locate the original story.

Long Live the Mangroves!
USA - The Blue Green Hand Society (BGHS) is a college-based club that started out in the year 2011. Our main goal revolves around environmental and community service. We began with a total of six members and all were the officers. After recruiting a handful of members, we began planning out volunteer activities. We searched for causes that we were most passionate about. Before we knew it, we went from planning campus cleanups to having an entire week devoted to the Mangrove Action Project (MAP). BGHS hosted MAP week during Earth Week this year and raised a hundred and forty dollars for the project. Most students did not even know what mangroves were but after a brief introduction, students were coming back with comments such as, “I asked the people at the restaurant if my shrimp was imported. I told them that I was concerned about the mangroves.” After a week of fundraising and raising awareness, students and professors felt more informed about the current status and the of mangroves. These were some of the thoughts compiled from students after learning about why we need to save the mangroves . . . READ MORE

AFRICA

New Mangrove Training Course Launch
KENYA - A new short mangrove ecology training course (10 days) is being offered in Kenya in Dec. 2013 for candidates from Western Indian Ocean and East African region which is modeled on the course which has been held at Annamalai University, India since 2004. The course is run by the United Nations University's (UNU) Institute for Water, Environment & Health (INWEH). Deadline is Sept.15, 2013 CLICK FOR MORE INFO

ASIA

Task force to counter US shrimp dutyEditors note – The following story highlights some of the issues surrounding the complexity of farmed shrimp and commerce – please see our LAST WORD below for comments from one of those effected by the actions.
MALAYSIA - The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) together with Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), and industry association have formed a special taskforce to tackle the recently announced 54.5% that the US is imposing on shrimp imports from Malaysia, the highest among five exporter countries affected by Washington's move. "The special taskforce will counter the allegations made by the petitioner and provide appropriate responses to the questionnaire provided by the US Department of Commerce (US DOC)," the anti dumping division of MITI said in an email reply to SunBiz. According to MITI, the Ministry of Agriculture is the lead agency for the case. MOA comments were not available as at press time. The US announced last Tuesday that it was imposing anti-subsidy duties on shrimps from Malaysia and four other countries following the completion of an investigation into seven exporter countries. The investigation was launched following complaints made by a grouping US shrimp producers and packagers grouping, the Coalition of Gulf Shrimp Industries. READ MORE

Indonesian shrimp production predicted to rise
INDONESIA – The Maritime and Fishery Ministry has set the country`s shrimp production target at 608,000 tons this year, a sharp increase from 415,703 tons in 2012. The country`s shrimp production has continued to climb, fish breeding director general Slamet Soebjakto has said. In 2012, the production rose 4 percent from the previous year, Slamet said in a shrimp production acceleration meeting here on Tuesday. He said the target was based on production which already reached 320,000 tons in the first half of the year. Producers would be boosted by the rise in prices as a result of growing demand in the world market, he said. He said Indonesia has greater potential to increase production compared with other rivals especially in southeast Asia. The country has 1.2 million hectares of potential areas for shrimp breeding with effective potency of 773,000 hectares, he said. The potentials could make the country the world`s largest shrimp producer and exporter, he added. The opportunity is wider with the outbreak of EMS (Early Mortality Syndrome) in a number of other producers in Asia such as Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, he said. The pilot project of shrimp ponds developed since 2012 in six regencies in northern coast of West Java, and Banten, would be expanded this year to 28 regencies in 6 provinces -- Central Java, East Java, South Sulawesi, West Nusa Tenggara and Lampung. READ MORE

AMERICAS

Baltimore researchers turn carnivorous fish into vegetarians
USA - Cobia is a sleek and powerful fish that devours flesh and doesn’t apologize for it. Open its belly and anything might pop out — crab, squid, smaller fish, you name it. Recently, three Baltimore researchers — Aaron Watson, Frederic Barrows and Allen Place — set out to tame this wild and hungry fish sometimes called black salmon. They didn’t want to simply domesticate it; hundreds of fish farmers have already done that. They sought to turn one of the ocean’s greediest carnivores into a vegetarian. The researchers announced that they pulled off the feat at a laboratory in the Columbus Center in downtown Baltimore. Over the course of a four-year study, Watson said, they dabbled with mixtures of plant-based proteins, fatty acids and a powerful amino acid-like substance found in energy drinks until they came up with a combination that cobia and another popular farm fish, gilt-head bream, gobbled down. The conversion of these carnivorous fish to a completely vegetarian diet is a first, according to the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, and a key to breaking a cycle in which the ocean’s stocks of small fish — menhaden, anchovies and sardines — are plundered by industrial fishing partly to provide fish feed to aquaculture, one of the fastest-growing economic sectors in the world. READ MORE

US certifies Mexican shrimp imports
MEXICO - The U.S. government has certified that the programs implemented by Mexico's shrimp industry to protect sea turtles are acceptable, opening the way for shrimp fishermen to continue exporting their catch to the United States, the Mexican Agriculture Secretariat said. Mexico's shrimp industry exported 26,182 tons of the crustaceans, including both shrimp caught in the wild and shrimp grown on farms, to the United States in 2012, generating $251 million in revenues, the secretariat said. The U.S. State Department announced on July 26 that Mexico had taken the necessary measures to reduce the incidental capture of sea turtles by fishing boats. READ MORE

Brazil's artisanal fishers denounce privatization of public waters for aquaculture
BRAZIL – The Movement of Brazilian Artisanal Men and Women Fishworkers (MPP) has denounced the privatization by the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture (MPA) of public water bodies for aquaculture. Reports from Brazil inform that the MPA has opened a bidding process for interested parties to apply for aquaculture concessions in areas of water in Pernambuco Bay, Parana State and the States of Goias and Rio de Janeiro (Public Tenders Nos 11/2013- 12/2013-13/2013-14/2013). The MPP accuse the MPA of ignoring and undermining artisanal fisheries. In an open letter the MPP states that the prospects for traditional fishing communities have been set back by the lack of development policies for regenerating artisanal fisheries, whilst men and women fishers have been criminalized. The entire thrust of the MPA say the MPP has been towards promoting aqua-business, initially for the cultivation of shrimp, and now for the transfer of waters to develop mariculture and aquaculture projects for the intensive cultivation mainly of tilapia and beijupira (cobia or Rachycentrom canadum). READ MORE

Seattle Against Slavery hosts human rights talk
USA – Tuesday, August 13th we were privileged to talk to a panel of great people about ways we can fight slavery simply with our buying decisions. We heard from Lisa Pau of the Mangrove Action Project. She spoke to us about shrimp. Chances are slaves were involved in the capture and shipping of the shrimp being sold in most grocery stores or restaurants. People are routinely kidnapped from their homes or coerced into working on shrimping boats for little or no pay. They are tortured, abused and sometimes even murdered. As a consumer you should ask where your shrimp came from. Ask your waiter before ordering shrimp or ask your fishmonger at the grocery store. READ MORE

Aquaculture cause rapid local sea-level riseNote from MAP's Exec Dir: Whether you are involved in salmon, shellfish or shrimp farm issues, we have yet another important issue to shine a light on- land subsidence. Twenty years ago, I remember land subsidence was mentioned in articles as a major problem in Taiwan, where an overzealous shrimp farm industry self-imploded in the late 1980's because of rampant pollution, shrimp diseases and land subsidence. Since then, this issue of subsidence has gone incognito, but it is now coming back to the surface tied to climate change and sea level rise. This is really something needing further publicizing as further proof that open-system, industrial aquaculture should truly become a thing of the past, retired forever as the antiquated and dilapidated system it surely has become!
USA - Groundwater extraction for fish farms can cause land to sink at rates of a quarter-meter a year, according to a study of China’s Yellow River delta. The subsidence is causing local sea levels to rise nearly 100 times faster than the global average. Global sea levels are rising at about 3 millimeters a year owing to warming waters and melting ice. But some places are seeing a much faster rise — mainly because of sinking land. Bangkok dropped by as much as 12 centimeters a year in the 1980s thanks to groundwater pumping. The researchers found that parts of the Yellow River delta are dropping by up to 25 centimeters a year, probably because of groundwater extraction for onshore fish tanks. The link between aquaculture and subsidence has attracted little international notice. “This is a new one on me,” says Stephen Brown, a fisheries scientist at the US National Marine Fisheries Service in Silver Spring, Maryland. “We are concerned about the effect of sea-level rise on fish; not the other way around,” he says. Subsidence was not mentioned in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s 2012 report on the state of world aquaculture, says Stephanie Higgins, a PhD geology student at the University of Colorado Boulder who led the study. “This is not yet on the industry’s radar, but it should be,” she says. READ MORE

The rights of nature following the end of the petroleum moratorium in Amazonia
ECUADOR - One of the most original environmental initiatives in recent years, coming from Ecuador, sought to leave oil in the ground to preserve the Amazonia and its indigenous peoples. It was an idea emerging from civil society that took on concrete form in 2007, under the first government of Rafael Correa, and was centred on protecting the Yasuní National Park and its adjacent areas (known by the abbreviation ITT). These efforts ended a few days ago, when the government announced the cancellation of this initiative and opened the way for petroleum exploitation. The idea of a petroleum moratorium in Yasuní-ITT grew to maturity over many years, but was founded on an exceptional framework in the system of rights approved in the new Constitution of 2008. This Constitution envisaged a better organization of the rights to quality of life of persons, the regulation of the use of natural resources and safeguards for indigenous peoples. In parallel with these features, for the first time the rights of Nature or of the Pachamama were recognized. In this way a constitutional ecological mandate was established, which if complied with, would not allow activities with such impacts as oil exploitation in Yasuní-ITT. READ MORE

EUROPE

Fishworkers' journal features Mangroves and Markets project
NETHERLANDS - The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) published an article on the SNV Stichting Nederlandse Vrijwilligers (Foundation of Netherlands Volunteers) Mangroves and Markets project (MAM) in its triannual journal SAMUDRA. The article is entitled "Depending on Mangroves: Integrated shrimp-mangrove farming systems offer a solution for protecting mangroves and improving livelihoods in Vietnam". The SNV Mangroves and Markets project is a BMU/IUCN funded inititative conducted in Ca Mau province, located in the Mekong Delta. The SNV Mangroves and Markets project (MAM) aims to reduce the pressure on the mangrove areas by working with local authorities, companies and farmers to introduce economic incentives for sustainable use and stronger protection. The project will work the Nhung Mien Forest Management Area. READ MORE

UN set to predict drowning of coastal cities by 2100
SWEDEN – A leaden cloak of responsibility lies on the shoulders of UN scientists as they put the final touches to the first volume of a massive report that will give the world the most detailed picture yet of climate change. Due to be unveiled in Stockholm on September 27, the document will be scrutinized word by word by green groups, fossil-fuel lobbies and governments to see if it will yank climate change out of prolonged political limbo. The report will kick off the fifth assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an expert body set up in 1988 to provide neutral advice on global warming and its impacts. Six years ago, the IPCC's fourth assessment report unleashed a megawatt jolt of awareness. It declared that the planet was warming, that this was already starting to affect Earth's climate system and biosphere, and that there was overwhelming evidence that humans, especially by burning coal, gas and oil, were the cause. It earned the IPCC a share in the Nobel Peace Prize with former US vice president Al Gore and stoked momentum that led to the 2009 climate conference in Copenhagen, the biggest summit in UN history. READ MORE

LAST WORD

Dear Alfredo,

Please see the latest news article regarding the US imposing shrimp duty and Malaysia's counteraction. Towards the end of the article is stated the approved and ongoing large shrimp farming projects, which we have been fighting. As for the one proposal in Penaga, Penang posed by me a couple of weeks ago, the State denies that there is such a proposal. We will compile information on this and let you know if an online petition to the government would be appropriate.

Thank you and regards from us in Malaysia.
Mageswari Sangaralingam
(Consumers' Association of Penang & Sahabat Alam (FoE) Malaysia)

~ WE WELOCME YOUR LETTERS - If you’d like to have the last word on this or any other mangrove related topic, please send us your submission for upcoming newsletters. We’ll choose one per issue to have “the last word”. While we can’t promise to publish everyone’s letter, we do encourage anyone to post comments on our Blog at www. mangroveactionproject.blogspot.com

Please cut and paste these news alerts/ action alerts on to your own lists and contacts. Help us spread the word and further generate letters of concern, as this can make a big difference in helping to halt a wrongdoing or encourage correct action.

Long Live Mangroves

The Blue Green Hand Society
(BGHS) is a college-based club that started out in the year 2011. Our main goal
revolves around environmental and community service. We began with a total of
six members and all were the officers. After recruiting a handful of members,
we began planning out volunteer activities. We searched for causes that we were
most passionate about. Before we knew it, we went from planning campus cleanups
to having an entire week devoted to the Mangrove Action Project (MAP).

BGHS hosted MAP week during Earth Week this year and
raised a hundred and forty dollars for the project. Most students did not even
know what mangroves were but after a brief introduction, students were coming back
with comments such as, “I asked the people at the restaurant if my shrimp was
imported. I told them that I was concerned about the mangroves.”

After a week of fundraising and raising awareness,
students and professors felt more informed about the current status and the of
mangroves. These were some of the thoughts compiled from students after
learning about why we need to save the mangroves:

Simranjit Grewal: “Serving as a voice for the MAP was life changing. It opened my eyes
to how little we know about the world and changes we need to make as a human
species.”

Leticia
Sanchez: “As human beings we must understand the value of nature and our impact
in the world; it can be positive or it can be negative. Promoting the
well-being of mangroves has definitely made a positive impact. I hope our
fellow peers, colleagues, neighbors and our communities are able to make
responsible choices.”

Christine
Nguyen: “There are times where I wonder when it will be enough; is it possible
that by spreading awareness we will make a difference? The truth is, it does.
One voice can make all the difference and I'm glad we were one of the voices.”

Manpreet
Bassi: “I was very surprised how the shrimp population is in danger due to the
elimination of the mangrove trees. This is another sign that reminds us to
respect and care for other species on earth. We, as humans, care only about us.
We want our food to be delicious no matter how much it is hurting our
environment. This is just another story that reflects our selfish behavior. We
need to change that by restoring the mangroves.”

Raina Hallera: “MAP's
initiative to conserve mangroves reduces the farming of shrimp in the process.
As an admirer of nature, being able to protect two species at once by bringing
the issues to light is a victory.”

Darryl
Lopez: “I'm glad that Blue Green Hand Society is working
together with MAP to inform the general public about environmental problems
such as mangrove loss and shoreline erosion. It feels great promoting
environmental awareness during MAP week.”

Eshani
Nandita: “I grew up in Fiji where mangroves are really prominent. I remember
learning about its uses and how it keeps the entire ecosystem healthy. Upon
discovering MAP, it brought back all the thoughts and feelings I had towards
mangroves. Now, I feel much more informed and much more passionate about the
lives of mangroves!”

Harpreet
Kaur: “I do not feel optimistic about earth if we continue heading on this same
path. By cutting mangrove trees, we are abusing nature and its resources. We do
not have to be environmentalists to give love and respect to the nature it
truly deserves. We are all equally responsible for earth. We all have had our
moments in the mountains, in the quiet forest, or on the seashore, when we were
stunned by the beauty of nature. We need to preserve that beauty and take
responsibility of our actions.”

Likewise, MAP week touched the
hearts of many! BGHS will continue working with MAP for the 2013-2014 year. We
will continue educating CSU Stanislaus about the dangers of over shrimping and clearing
mangroves.

We invite all primary school children from tropical and sub-tropical nations, and whose schools are located near mangroves, to create art telling us "why mangroves are important to me and my community". Selected winners will be published in a 2014 calendar to be distributed internationally to raise awareness of mangrove forest ecology. Emailmonicagquarto@olympus.net or mangroveap@olympus.net or READ MORE

It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.

Note to Our Readers:We strive to keep active links in our newsletter. However, due to circumstances beyond our control, occasionally links to stories may become broken. If you find a link to a story is not functioning, please cut and paste the headline into your browser search bar. In most cases you should be able to locate the original story.

MAP board member oversees project to restore aquatic life
USA - Nine years after hurricane-whipped waves breached a gypsum-stack berm near Riverview, the corporation that owns the mining operation is paying $5 million for a pair of ambitious projects to restore wetlands and tidal marshes where the Alafia River empties into Hillsborough Bay. The two Mosaic projects are being undertaken along U.S. 41 on the north and south sides of the river bridge, officials announced at a Wednesday news conference held on the south bank of the river. Neither project was connected to the spill, but Mosaic was required to create restoration projects in the area as part of an agreement the phosphate giant made with the government in the wake of the spill. "The mangroves there are under severe stress," said Robin Lewis, an environmental consultant hired by Mosaic to oversee the projects. Cutting the tidal flow results in "a mangrove heart attack," he said. "That's a sudden death of mangroves due to poor circulation." The choking of the mangroves, which purify the water and provide a spawning environment for many fish, predated the spill, he said, and the restoration will put the area in better shape than it has been in half a century. READ MORE

AFRICA

Mangrove Action Day celebration 2013 report from GREENCODE
NIGERIA - Green Concern for Development (GREENCODE) in partnership with Concern Universal and NGO Collation for Environment (NGOCE) with support from European Union (EU) under the Integrated Mangrove Forest Management (IMFORM) Project organised Mangrove Action Day 2013 at the Ikot Nakanda council hall in Akpabuyo LGA , Cross River State. The event was attended by 1,000 participants drawn from the traditional rulers, MDAs like Forestry Commission, Ministry of Environment, Executive Secretary of Education Authority Board, School Children and their Patrons/matrons, villagers/community people, CSOs, Media and other stakeholders. Activities line-up for the day were; seminar presentations, drama, poems, folks and presentation of gifts to winners of essay writing competition on the topic the importance of mangrove in my community. Prizes were given and also certificates to winning schools. READ MORE

ASIA

Editor’s note – this is a follow-up on our special on human rights violations. See MAP News Issue 316, June 8th 2013Leaders Of Infamous Human Trafficking Gang Arrested
THAILAND - Thai authorities in the last week have rounded up three leading members of a Burmese human trafficking gang responsible for selling hundreds of their fellow countrymen into slavery and murdering dozens of people. According to the Burmese embassy in Bangkok’s labour attaché Naing Htun, combined forces from the Royal Thai Police and the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) nabbed the group’s leader Ko Myo last week after capturing one of his top aides on 31 July. Another of the gang’s henchman was reportedly arrested on Tuesday, while officials continue to search for an unidentified Burmese national associated with the outfit. The notorious human trafficking and racketeering group are believed to have been behind approximately 40 murders and operated around the ports in Trang province’s Kantang district. The area serves as a major hub for Thailand’s massive fishing industry, which employs thousands of Burmese migrants many of whom are believed to have been trafficked and sold into captivity. READ MORE

Marine eco-system in the Gulf at risk of collapse
THAILAND – Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines are at serious risk of permanently destroying their marine eco-systems, due to over-fishing, pollution and the destruction of environmental habitat, according to Greenpeace Southeast Asia. "Right now in Southeast Asia, there are fishing operations which are above the capacity of our oceans - especially in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, which are all over-fishing their territorial waters. Too many fishing boats cashing in on too few fish has led to serious over-fishing," Sirasa Kantaratanakul, oceans campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, told The Nation. Greenpeace's ship Esperanza has been in Thai waters since June 15 in preparation for launching its campaign, "Oceans in the Balance: Thailand in Focus". READ MORE

OP-ED: The need to save our mangroves
THAILAND - Despite the mangrove forests' capacity as one of nature's best ways for fighting global warming, large areas of mangroves in the Southeast Asian region are at risk of being depleted to make way for indiscriminate coastal development. Not many of us are aware that mangrove forests, normally found in marshy areas between the shore and the sea, can make a difference in mitigating climate change, with their ability to serve as carbon sinks. We don't have to look far for signs of the devastation. One such affected area is Indonesia's South Sulawesi, in which over the past 30 years close to 90 per cent of the total original mangrove forest has faced massive destruction due to deforestation, over-harvesting and pollution. The ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), in a report, said that Southeast Asia suffers from the highest rate of mangrove losses, with at least 600 square kilometres being stripped away each year over the last two decades. This turn of events is quite alarming because the ASEAN region holds about one-third of all mangrove forest area worldwide. READ MORE

US agrees to zero anti-dumping tariff
THAILAND - Thai shrimp exports look set to become more competitive in the United States, after the US agreed to cut its anti-dumping tariff to zero percent this year, the Foreign Trade Department has announced. It's the first time in eight years that the tariff has been cut. Thai shrimp exports have been hurt by the high anti-dumping duties on Thai shrimp in recent years. Bangjongjit Angsusingh, deputy director-general to the Foreign Trade Department, said that Thai frozen shrimp exports to the US faced a more positive future, following Thailand’s efforts to provide clear documentation against the US-imposed anti-dumping duties (AD) on Thai shrimp. Thai shrimp exports have struggled with high duties since 2005, hampering competitiveness and creating additional financial burden for Thai exporters. READ MORE

VASEP protests against anti-subsidy duties on local shrimp
VIETNAM – The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP) has voiced its protest against the latest decision on the imposition of anti-subsidy duties on Vietnamese shrimp exporters from the US Department of Commerce (DOC). VASEP said such a decision is unfair to local shrimp processors and exporters as they are operating under market mechanisms, and have never received any government’s subsidy or any other kinds of subsidies. This decision also means that the US has levied two kinds of taxes on the same product, the import tariff and the anti-subsidy duty, thereby directly affecting the livelihoods of 600,000 Vietnamese farmers and many others working in related fields, including workers and businesses. VASEP also pointed out the disadvantage of the US consumer after the new decision. READ MORE

MAP ASIA Intern reports on restoration photos
In June working with MAP as a volunteer intern I got a chance to visit our Ecological Mangrove Restoration (EMR) site at Thunggor village, Had Samran district in the Trang province. Our task for the trip was to make a time-lapse photo collection of the EMR demonstration site. This article will discuss about the steps of timelapse photo collection from my first-hand experience. Time-lapse photos monitoring is a crucial procedure of the EMR process. Time-lapse photos are collected in order to monitor the changes within the EMR site after the project has been implemented. It is a simple quick way to monitor and inexpensive which does not require scientific knowledge. It is one of the important indicator tools to help determine success / failure of the EMR project. The monitoring is carried out according to a sequence for 3-5 years. READ MORE

AMERICAS

Dominican Republic bans shrimp imports from six countries
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC –Agriculture Minister Luis Ramon Rodriguez has banned imports of all shrimp from China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh and Mexico, due to fears of Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS). Imports of shrimp both cooked and live has been banned in order to prevent EMS from entering the country. Rodriguez noted that imports will still continue from other countries that can guarantee they are free of EMS. The measure is covered by Law No. 307-04 of Fisheries and Agriculture, establishing effective measures to prevent the extinction of certain marine species, ensuring food and health protection. VIEW SOURCE

Creation of a New Protected Area in Southwestern Haiti
HAITI – On Wednesday August 7th, 2013 Haiti’s Council of Ministers announced the creation of the “Protected Area of Natural Resources Management of Port Salut/Aquin (Aire Protégée de Ressources Naturelles Gérées de Port Salut/Aquin)” located in southwestern Haiti. It is composed of five zoned sites enclosed within an area covering a total of close to 150,000 hectares (1,500 sq.km.) and includes mixed marine and terrestrial sites. We once again applaud the Haitian government’s move to protect our natural resources. This designation is another critical step forward as Haiti renews its commitment to protect the environment, especially in light of President Martelly’s designation of 2013 as The Year of the Environment for Haiti,” stated Jean Wiener, Director of the Fondation pour la Protection de la Biodiversité Marine (FoProBiM) in Haiti. “However, the designation is the easy part, now comes the hard part. We must ensure an increased engagement of the local communities, national stakeholders, the government, and our international partners to actively participate in the protection and sustainable management of the resources within this important area. We are also looking towards the designation of Marine Protected Areas in the very near future.” READ MORE

Palm oil empires in the name of “green energy” and “sustainable development”
Honduras - International environmental and human rights campaigners condemn the 4th Latin American Palm Oil Conference to be held by the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in Honduras on 6th-8th August. From 6th-8th August, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is holding its 4th Latin American Conference on so-called sustainable palm oil in Honduras. Environmental and social campaigners have been shocked to learn that one event sponsor is the palm oil company Dinant Corporation, owned and controlled by Miguel Facusse, the largest landowner in Honduras. They are calling on World Wildlife Fund WWF and three other organisations to withdraw from and denounce the conference being held in Honduras due to the Dinant's sponsorship of the event and the serious human rights implications. Mr. Facusse was a key supporter and beneficiary of the June 2009 military coup in Honduras, has been associated with narco-trafficking [4], and, along with other large oil palm growers, has been linked to the targeted killing of more than 88 members and supporters of peasant organisations since June 2009 in the Aguan Valley [5], one of the main palm oil producing regions in Honduras. READ MORE

Don't sweat mercury — eat your fish
USA - It’s time to tell people to stop being afraid of methylmercury. This may sound like a radical statement, considering over the past decade many consumers have been leery of eating too much seafood out of fear of methylmercury poisoning, especially in children and pregnant women. The majority of seafood buyers and sellers worldwide are aware on some level of the health messages that children and pregnant or nursing mothers should limit their consumption of fish known to have high levels of methylmercury. What most consumers don’t understand, however, is why most ocean fish is really OK to eat — whether you’re pregnant or not — and why it really is safe to feed that tuna fish sandwich to our children. READ MORE

Deaths of Manatees, Dolphins and Pelicans Point to Estuary at Risk
USA - The first hint that something was amiss here, in the shallow lagoons and brackish streams that buffer inland Florida from the Atlantic’s salt water, came last summer in the Banana River, just south of Kennedy Space Center. Three manatees — the languid, plant-munching, over-upholstered mammals known as sea cows — died suddenly and inexplicably, one after another, in a spot where deaths were rare. A year later, the inquiry into those deaths has become a cross-species murder mystery, a trail of hundreds of deaths across one-third of the Indian River estuary, one of the richest marine ecosystems in the continental United States. The cause continues to evade easy explanation. But a central question is whether the deaths are symptoms of something more ominous: the collapse of the natural balance that sustains the 156-mile estuary’s northern reaches. READ MORE

Environmentalists ask Authorities to Protect the Mangroves
MEXICO - An urgent appeal to the state government, are making environmental organizations and civil society, in order to stop the destruction of mangroves on the north bank of the lagoon Carpenter, on the occasion of the Centennial Green Park works. At a news conference, attorney and historian Hilda Miriam Gomez Huberman cautioned that is altering the ecological balance in that glass lakeside, putting at risk the health and even the safety of thousands of families living in the vicinity, as the mangrove meets a wide range of beneficial functions to maintain the balance of nature. And they made a timeline of what they consider a real ecocide, pointing to the Municipality, PROFEPA and SEMARNAT, among other agencies involved, which have been ignored citizen complaints filed since early this year. Therefore, Hilda Gomez said requested and a federal injunction to order the suspension of the work carried out in an area of ​​16 hectares of land reclaimed from the lagoon of the Carpenter, on which they hope to rule the judge of the 9th Judicial District in the course of next week. READ MORE

Higher Prices could Mark the Start of Shrimp Season
USA - Shrimpers in Louisiana are gearing up for Shrimp season that's set to start Monday. But shrimpers say major prices changes are in store. Industry experts are estimating as much as one dollar per pound higher than last season. Problems with shrimp overseas have reduced the amount of shrimp being imported. It's created a lower supply of shrimp in the U.S., and made what's caught even more valuable. "I always said that our shrimp would be gold, worth gold, if those ponds, something happened to those ponds and they quit shipping that shrimp here...that our shrimp was going to be what the people wanted," owner of Granger Seafood Albert Granger said, who's been a shrimper for over 25 years. Shrimpers are hoping that higher prices this year will make business better than ever. They also want customers to be aware of the overall higher prices this season. READ MORE

Consumers will pay more for responsible products
USA - In the largest study of its kind, researchers at NYU Stern School of Business conducted a meta-analysis of 83 different research papers on consumers’ willingness to pay a premium for socially responsible products of all types (both durable and nondurable items such as seafood). They found that 60 percent of consumers are willing to pay extra for socially responsible products. On average, consumers are willing to pay a 17.3 percent premium for goods that provide a social or environment benefit. Shoppers are willing to pay the highest premium — 9 percent more — for goods that provide benefits to humans (such as good labor practices), followed by purchases that benefit animals (0.5 percent), followed by goods that are environmentally friendly. “This has some implication for how companies market and develop their products. In the seafood industry, issues such as saving jobs or providing good working conditions for industry workers may pay off better than considerations for the fish themselves,” Russ Winer, chair of NYU Stern’s Marketing Department and the study’s author, told SeafoodSource. READ MORE

EUROPE

Editor’s Note: Obviously, when the industry is hurting in one area, it stimulates growth in another. Thus, the mangroves and coastal communities of Ecuador, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh and Burma need to beware!Ecuador, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh and Burma plan for shrimp farm expansions
NETHERLANDS - According to a new report from Dutch bank Rabobank, the outbreak of early mortality syndrome (EMS) in the Far East has brought an end to a decade-long boom in the shrimp aquaculture industry, resulting in the largest ever contraction in supply and subsequent record prices. The report, published by the bank’s Food and Agribusiness Research and Advisory team, says the impact of EMS on the three largest global shrimp producers opens a window of opportunity for other shrimp producing regions, and predicts the long-term result will be consolidation and vertical integration of large, multinational shrimp producers. With the recent discovery of the cause of EMS, Rabobank said it expects the industry to emerge more consolidated and with larger, diversified, more vertically integrated multinational producers leading the next growth wave. Producers in Ecuador, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar are rapidly expanding production.” READ MORE

LAST WORD

Group calls for more safety
After the death of a new crab gather in the province of El Oro recently, the C-CONDEM (National Coordinated Defense of Mangrove Ecosystems) requires government authorities to ban electrification of fences in mangrove areas and the repeal of permits to carry weapons for the shrimp industry.

On Monday, members of the C-CONDEM with a large representation of community members from various mangrove areas of the five coastal provinces, met with Minister Javier Ponce to document the various acts of violence involving the shrimp farm industry in mangrove areas. Ponce Minister had occasion to hear the talk of widows and families of victims, as local villagers have been killed by gunshot wounds, torn by dogs or electrocuted on electric fences on their way to perform their tasks of shellfish collecting, crabbing or performing fishing activities.

Communities living in mangrove areas reported to the highest authority MAGAP as in many cases, community roads that have been historically used by the inhabitants to reach harvesting areas and fishing areas where they claim their food sovereignty, are being illegally fenced and closed by the shrimp industry. READ MORE

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